A book containing either all or the principal words of a language, or words of one or more specified classes, arranged in a stated order, usually alphabetical, with definitions or explanations of their meanings and other information concerning them, expressed either in the same or in another language; a word-book; a lexicon; a vocabulary …. [Century Dictionary]
1520s, from Medieval Latin dictionarium “collection of words and phrases,” probably a shortening of dictionarius (liber) “(book) of words,” from Latin dictionarius “of words,” from dictio “a saying, expression,” in Late Latin “a word,” noun of action from past-participle stem of dicere “speak, tell, say,” from PIE root *deik- “to show,” also “pronounce solemnly.”
The Medieval Latin word is said to have been first used by Johannes de Garlandia (John of Garland) as the title of a Latin vocabulary published c. 1220. Probably first English use in title of a book was in Sir Thomas Elyot’s “Latin Dictionary” (1538).
As an adjective, “of or pertaining to a dictionary,” from 1630s. Dictionarist “compiler of a dictionary” (1610s) is older than dictionarian (1806 as a noun, 1785 as an adjective). Grose’s 1788 “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” has “RICHARD SNARY. A dictionary.”
DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work. [Bierce]
Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to show,” also “pronounce solemnly,” “also in derivatives referring to the directing of words or objects” [Watkins].
It forms all or part of: abdicate; abdication; addict; adjudge; apodictic; avenge; benediction; betoken; condition; contradict; contradiction; dedicate; deictic; deixis; dictate; diction; dictionary; dictum; digit; disk; ditto; ditty; edict; Eurydice; index; indicate; indication; indict; indiction; indictive; indite; interdict; judge; judicial; juridical; jurisdiction; malediction; malison; paradigm; policy (n.2) “written insurance agreement;” preach; predicament; predicate; predict; prejudice; revenge; soi-disant; syndic; teach; tetchy; theodicy; toe; token; valediction; vendetta; verdict; veridical; vindicate; vindication; voir dire.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dic- “point out, show;” Greek deiknynai “to show, to prove,” dikē “custom, usage;” Latin dicere “speak, tell, say,” digitus “finger,” Old High German zeigon, German zeigen “to show,” Old English teon “to accuse,” tæcan “to teach.”
1885 as abbreviation of New English Dictionary, the short form of the name under which the Oxford English Dictionary was published (A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles). It began to appear in volumes in 1884; in 1895 the title Oxford English Dictionary first appeared on the covers.
“sleep-producing, causing or inducing slumber,” c. 1600, with -ous + Latin somnifer, from somni- “sleep” (from PIE root *swep- “to sleep”) + ferre “to bear, carry” (from PIE root *bher- (1) “to carry”). Century Dictionary (1891) has somnifacient. Bailey’s dictionary (1721) has somnific.
1700, “one that is half Whore, half Bawd” [“Dictionary of the Canting Crew”]; “a decayed strumpet” [Johnson], probably from French haridelle “a poore tit, or leane ill-favored jade,” [Cotgrave’s French-English dictionary, 1611], attested in French from 16c., a word of unknown origin.
also chode, “penis,” by 1968 (Zap Comix), U.S. teen slang, of unknown origin. Guesses include a supposed Navajo chodis “penis” [“Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang” 2005], or a supposed Hindi, Bengali or Gujarati vernacular word for “copulate” [“New Hacker’s Dictionary,” 1996].
“A rascally, disorderly, or despicable person” [Century Dictionary], 1690s, alteration of rascallion (1640s), a fanciful elaboration of rascal (q.v.). It had a parallel in now-extinct rampallion (1590s), from Middle English ramp (n.2) “ill-behaved woman.” Also compare rascabilian (1620s). Rapscallionry “rascals collectively” is marked “[Rare.]” in Century Dictionary (1897); Galsworthy used rapscallionism.
1825, “university,” variant of earlier versity (1670s), shortened form of university. Compare varsal (1690s), short for universal (used by Swift, Scott); varmint from vermin; and Grose’s “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” (1788) has vardy as slang for verdict. “Used in English universities, and affected to some extent in American colleges” [Century Dictionary].
“A swell of the sea which breaks upon the shore” [Century Dictionary], 1680s, probably from earlier suffe (1590s), a word of uncertain etymology. First found in an account from Madras, hence perhaps of Indic origin.
Similarity to sough (v.) also has been noted. Century Dictionary would have surf (n.) as “prob. simulating a phonetic spelling” of the noun sough “a rushing, whispering sound, a murmuring roar.”
In reference to the mass of white water and foam left by a breaking wave, by 1757.
1620s, “stiffness, inflexibility,” especially in mechanics, “resistance to change of form;” 1620s, from Latin rigiditas “stiffness,” from rigidus “hard, stiff, rough, severe” (see rigid). By 1650s as “strictness, severity,” but rigidity tends to be used of physical stiffness, while rigor is more active or moral. Rigidness (1640s) “perhaps holds a middle position” [Century Dictionary].
Rigidity is directly opposed to flexibility, and only indirectly to malleability and ductility, which depend chiefly on relations between the tenacity, the rigidity, and the limit of elasticity. [Century Dictionary]
Source: O
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